Perseverance characterizes the career of Bonnie Raitt. Through personal and professional setbacks, Raitt kept plugging away at her art and her craft. Public indifference to her brilliance bordered on the criminal, at least until her long-awaited breakthrough in the late 80s let everyone in on what they'd been missing.
When it came to delivering a major hit single, Raitt did so by honoring the work of a songwriter who'd also been underappreciated. 20 years after her recording career began, Bonnie Raitt hit the Top 5 on the pop charts.
Right from the start, Bonnie Raitt earned the respect and praise of music critics. Her skills as both a vocalist and a guitarist shone forth on her 1971 debut album. The problem that quickly arose for Raitt, at least in terms of her commercial prospects, was that she was often caught in between two worlds.
When her records delivered bluesy authenticity, pop audiences largely turned away. And when she tried to step in a more mainstream direction, she took heat from the critics. Truth be told, Raitt never sounded comfortable moving away from the roots music she did best.
With the lack of commercial success, both in terms of album sales and hit singles, came pressure from record labels. On top of that, Raitt struggled throughout the early part of the 80s with drug and alcohol abuse. Although she remained as respected among her peers as any artist, her career seemed on the verge of being completely extinguished.
Raitt managed to get clean from her substance abuse issues in the second half of the 80s. She found a new label and a collaborator in producer Don Was, who brought out the best in her. With a sharp, clear mind working in her favor and her skills as potent as ever, Raitt unleashed the album Nick Of Time in 1989.
The album proved a sensation, soaring to the top of the LP charts and winning Album Of The Year at the 1990 Grammy Awards. But even though many of the songs from that record are now universally beloved, they weren't giant hit singles. "Have A Heart" did the best, reaching No. 49.
But Raitt now had the public's attention, as they anticipated her follow-up album. This is the point of the story where an unheralded Canadian songwriter named Shirley Eikhard arrives. Eikhard had sent Raitt a song a few years prior about a couple getting a one-up on small-town gossip. It was called "Something To Talk About".
Eikhard had written the song in the mid-80s and almost had Anne Murray, a Canadian pop legend, on the hook to record it. But Murray couldn't convince her label of the song's worth. Looking for other artists, Eikhard mailed a demo to Raitt, realizing that the artist might never even get around to listening to it, let alone liking it.
But Raitt did listen, and she was blown away. She cut her version of "Something To Talk About", and then sent Eikhard a phone message with the recording for her to hear. Raitt also chose the song as the first single off her 1991 album Luck Of The Draw.
"Something To Talk About" was the right song at the right point in Raitt's career. Radio ate it up, and it went to No. 5 on the pop charts. Granted, that kind of recognition was long overdue. But at least the mainstream music world had finally caught up with Bonnie Raitt.